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  1. Craig R. Smith permalink
    October 2, 2016 12:22 pm

    I am touched and honored. Truly.

  2. John Radcliffe permalink
    October 9, 2016 6:49 pm

    Hi Kurk, I’ll just drop this in and then run for cover …

    “who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. There is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the human Christ Jesus” (CEV 1Tim 2:4-5)

    This is typical of the many passages that have led me to despair over English Bible translations, and pretty much give up on them all.

    As I see it, at the very least here a translation should:

    (1) not use “gendered” terms to describe Jesus and those for whom he mediates – so not “man” and “men” (nor “mankind”, as one occasionally comes across “womankind” and so some now understand “mankind” in an equivalent male sense);

    (2) not render the Greek plural term (which I think views those mediated for as individuals) as a collective singular (so not “humankind”, “mankind”, “humanity” or “man”); and

    (3) not render the term referring to Jesus with the adjective “human”.

    The only English version I have found that avoids all three issues is Tom Wright’s “The New Testament for Everyone”, which has “who wants all people to be saved and to come to know the truth. For, you see, there is one God and one mediator between God and humans, King Jesus, himself a human being” – although I’d prefer “human beings” and I’m not happy with “King”. While CEV is OK on (1), it fails on (2) and is ambiguous on (3) (I have other criticisms of NRSV which would make me challenge whether it renders these verses “faithfully”, although it probably does better than many.)

    Of course, it’s often easier to criticise than to come up with the goods oneself (although I don’t think such inability is necessary a valid reason to stifle criticism). Personally, I’d be happy with something like “who wants all human beings to be saved and to come into a knowledge of the truth. You see, there is [only] one God and one mediator between God and human beings – a human being, Messiah Jesus”. While most translations avoid repetition of “human being(s)”, perhaps “for stylistic reasons”, in translating the Bible I think accuracy trumps style pretty much every time. No doubt others would disagree.

  3. J. K. Gayle permalink*
    October 11, 2016 10:04 pm

    Craig,
    Your translation is just brilliant.

    John,
    It appears that the Wright version is very much like the much earlier published GOD’S WORD® Translation, and by your standards you may like it better:

    There is one God. There is also one mediator between God and humans—a human, Christ Jesus.

    Ann Nyland’s and Willis Barnstone’s translations may not be as acceptable to you but are fine by me:

    For there is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the person the Anointed One Jesus.

    There is one mediator between God and person, Mashiah Yeshua, a man.

  4. Marg permalink
    October 12, 2016 3:13 am

    I’m honored to have a blog post about my blog post. 😉

    I hadn’t read the Common English Bible before writing my article, but I was delighted with what I discovered and have been using since as my English Bible.

    I think there are times when the word “man/men” and “woman/women” should still be used in English Bible translations, but only when it is fairly certain that a passage concerns a situation that originally involved or applied to one sex and not the other.

    Regardless of the gender of the person, however, the Greek word anthrōpos should be translated as “person” or “human” where possible.

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